PAD files - sales key or straitjacket?

[tolworthy]

I'm filling out a PAD file (using PadGen 3.0) and wondering if it causes more problems than sales?

• Name and address: I'm a one man band and only sell online. Do I really want my home address sent out with every game?
• Support email: all my support is via my blog, with email only for particular issues
• Program release date, recent changes, languages, etc: my game is frequently updated - I'd need to make a new PAD file every few weeks (e.g. new translation, new update, how the various parts are packaged, etc.)
• Supported operating systems: 20 tick boxes for Windows and only 1 for Linux? Shouldn't that be the other way round?
• I could go on.

Like anyone else here I'll do anything for a single sale, but I'm wondering if PAD files mislead customers while sucking up time that could be more usefully spent in other ways?

[Desktop Gaming]

Not all fields are compulsory. Leave out what you don't want people to know.

They aren't really a pain to update. In the PAD file you make, you supply a URL to some server where you have the PAD file stored. Then all you need to do is update that one stored copy.

Any site that properly supports PAD files will just go and get its updates from there periodically.

[tolworthy]

all you need to do is update that one stored copy.

That's one of my problems. Take this week for example: I finished a new game (PAD file 1), that meant also offering a combined version with previous games for new users (PAD file 2), this also meant upgrading an older game to be compatible (PAD file 3), then there are non-Windows versions of each (PAD files 4,5,6), then there's the Dutch version which has to be separate so the translator gets paid (PAD file 7)... and so on. If each file is almost empty, or misleading (my game works on some versions of Linux and not others - do I tick the Linux box?) then how likely is it that each PAD file would lead to a single extra sale?

[Maupin]

In my limited experience, PAD files are almost but not quite a waste of time. Whatever you do, don't put your normal email address inside - create a separate address (gmail or whatever) that you can check periodically. It will fill up with unbelievable amounts of spam and "Your software has been awarded 5 stars from CrapwareTurnkeyDumpSite3000.com!" messages requesting a link from your site to theirs.

[Indinera]

PAD files are good for one thing, they multiply your Google Hits by 10 for a while lol

[GaiaDreamCreation]

Filling the PAD file went right for me, however it gave me a lot of troubles with a minority of sites. Some fields are required by some sites and sometimes it is unclear what is wrong in your PAD file. I suggest that you use a PAD file validation tool to do it right from the beginning. Otherwise, it is a good tool to submit to download sites. The listing will get will get your downloads, but also links to your website which may help to increase your position in search engines.

[HarryBalls]

Folks,

Submitting pad files is the first step with the download sites. Download.com gets at least 15,000 submissions across all software and game categories daily.

You may want to send a note to their editorial staff to make them aware of the submission and your game to ask them to review it when they get a chance. Not all the download sites review the games but it can't hurt to ask. You may want to ask them to see if they will give you extra contextually relevent promotion on their sites in exchange for a higher % of the revenue of the game. The bigger sites like Download.com, Tucows etc may or may not be open to this.

Hopefully you find this information helpful. Our mission is to help creative technology people, like the members of this forum, to grow their businesses.